Jack Bostock Can Talk to Rival Clubs From 1 November, 17 Days After His Hat-Trick on Debut
Bostock’s contract with the Dolphins runs to the end of 2027. Under the NRL’s rules that makes him a free agent from 1 November, when players in the last year of their deals can start negotiating with other clubs. He scored three tries on his Kangaroos debut seventeen days before that date.
Nine’s headline on Saturday put it bluntly: the Dolphins could be the big losers from one of the best Australian debuts ever.
What the opener did to his price
In the 24-22 win over New Zealand Bostock ran 231 metres, scored an 88-metre intercept and won two contests in the air for Cameron Munster kicks, the second of them with four minutes left. He was named player of the match. No Kangaroo had scored three tries on debut since Campbell Graham against Scotland at the last World Cup.
Fifteen months ago he had a torn ACL, and he started this season on the sidelines. Since then he has played in an Origin decider for New South Wales and in the centres and on the wing for the Dolphins, which is the versatility clubs pay for.
The Dolphins say they are not worried
Kristian Woolf was asked in August whether the club could keep both Bostock and Herbie Farnworth, amid fears that one of them would have to move on. “We are very comfortable with the situation and we are very confident we can keep those guys, and that those guys want to be here,” he told AAP.
He also played down the date. “Just because guys go to November 1 doesn’t mean they are going elsewhere either. We have got no indication from either of those guys, or any of the guys that are off contract, that they want to go to the open market.”
Bostock has said publicly that he wants to stay beyond 2027. That was before Thursday.
Why it is harder than it sounds
The Dolphins have 14 players coming off contract at the end of 2027, according to the NRL’s contract list as reported by AAP. Farnworth and Bostock are among them, Selwyn Cobbo is a priority, and a new deal for Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow was being worked through in August. Four outside backs good enough to build a premiership side around, one salary cap.
Woolf’s own line was that the club has to “come up with something that is attractive and we can make it work.” Every try Bostock scores this month makes “attractive” more expensive.
Where he came from
Bostock came through the Dragons’ pathways before joining the Dolphins. His junior club, the Shellharbour Stingrays, marked his selection with a post headed “From the Stingrays to the Kangaroos”. Shellharbour is Group 7 country, where a senior Stingrays side reached this year’s finals.
Australia play Fiji at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday 25 October. Results go into the World Cup table the morning after.
